Tobacco harvester



June 2, 1970 T. J. DANFORD ETAL 3,515,234

TOBACCO HARVESTER Filed Jan. 27, 1969 4 Sheets-Sheet I June 2, 1970 T. J. DANFORD ET AL 3,515,234

TOBACCO HARVESTER Filed Jan. 27, 1969 4 SheetS -Sheet a June 2, 1970 TOBACCO HARVESTER Filed Jan. 27,1969 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG 4.

FIG. 5.

T-J.DANFORD ETAL 3,515,234

June 2, 1010 T. J. DANFORD TOBACCO HARVESTER 4 Sheefs-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 27, 1969 FIG. 6.

United States Patent 3,515,234 TOBACCO HARVESTER Tiras J. Danford, Leesburg, Ga., and Phillip E. Abbott,

Henderson, and John D. Mitchell, Lewiston, N.C., assignors to Harrington Manufacturing Company, Lewiston, N.C., an organization of North Carolina Filed Jan. 27, 1969, Ser. No. 794,312 Int. Cl. Allld 67/04 US. Cl. 180-27 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention pertains to a novel tobacco harvester adapted to carry two or more primers and which incorporates novel means whereby at least one of the primers may vary his position relative to the other primers and relative to the ground as the harvester moves through a tobacco field.

BACKGROUND A number of tobacco harvesters are known to the prior art whereby a plurality of workers, usually called primers, can be transported through a tobacco field in a sitting position so that they can remove selected leaves from the tobacco stalks. Some of these tobacco harvesters are quite complicated in design and also quite expensive. Many of them require, in addition to the primers, a person whose sole job is to steer the harvester through the rows of tobacco. v

Due to the decreasing availability of persons to work on tobacco harvesters, it is now essential that those workers that are available must be used to the fullest extent. Desirably all of the persons on a harvester should be engaged in the priming of tobacco. The harvester of the present invention permits this objective.

THE PRESENT INVENTION Considered from one standpoint, the tobacco harvester of the present invention comprises in combination:

(a) a main frame,

(b) a plurality of wheels attached to the lower portion of said main frame and means to drive said wheels so as to permit movement of the harvester between rows of tobacco leaves,

(c) a plurality of primer stations depending downwardly from the upper portion of said main frame,

(d) each of said primer stations comprising a seat for a primer and a platform for the reception of tobacco leaves,

(e) two of said primer stations being centrally located with respect to the main frame, one behind the other,

(f) at least two other primer stations being located on opposite lateral sides of the aforementioned centrally located primer stations, each of said primer stations being mounted for vertical movement with respect to said main frame,

(g) at least one of said primer stations being pivotally mounted at its front end and being movable through a limited horizontal are at its rear end.

THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of our harvester;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of our harvester;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the front and rear primer stations;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side view of the rear primer station;

FIG. 5 is a partial view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of our harvester showing a side primer station;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a special feature of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary perpsective view of a platform in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION an appropriate motor or engine that can be mounted somewhere on the upper part of the main frame (such motor or engine not being shown in the drawing in the interests of clarity). Wheels 34 and 36 can be mounted so that they are laterally adjustable with respect to each other, thus permitting the harvester to accommodate different row spacings.

A plurality of picker stations depend downwardly from the upper portion of themain frame. Two of these picker stations are preferably located centrally along the longitudinal axis of the main frame and the details of two such central picker stations can be best seen by referring to FIG. 3. In FIG. 3 it will be seen that the downwardly depending members 26 and 27 have connected between them a rectangular platform 42 which contains a seat 44 for the person who not only acts as a primer but who also usually acts as the driver. Located forwardly and below seat 44 are foot pedals 4-6 that are connected through steering connecting rods 48 to extensions 50 on the wheel assembly 52. The foot pedals are preferably constructed in such a way and mounted in such a way that they can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically so as to not only accommodate persons of different leg lengths, but also so as to accommodate the driver as his seat is raised at increasing heights above the ground. Wheel assembly 52 is mounted on the main frame member 26. by means of a steering pivot 54. This primer station, which for convenience and brevity will hereinafter he referred to as the front primer station, allows the forward primer to (a) pick tobacco as the harvester goes down the rows of tobacco and (b) at the same time to guide front wheel 32 by means of foot pedals 46.

The area above platform 42 and forward of the foot pedal 46 will accommodate one or more receptacles into which the front primer can place tobacco leaves. Platform 42 is mounted with bolts between posts 26 and 27 so that it can be raised at increasing heights above the ground as the tobacco harvesting operation progresses. A second primer (or rear primer) station is located immediately behind the front primer station and in referring to FIG. 3 it will be noted that the forward end of the rear primer station is attached to the vertical member 27, while the rear end of the rear primer station is suspended from the rear end of main frame member 24 by means of a chain 56 (or an equivalent vertically adjustable mounting means). The front end of the rear primer station is pivotally mounted with respect to member 27 so that the rear primer station is free to pivot in either a horizontal or vertical direction. Specifically, this freedom to pivotis accomplished by means of vertical pivots 60 and horizontal pivot 62. The seat 70 is mounted upon elongated seat support member 72.

Referring now more specifically to FIGS. 4 and 5 the seat supporting member 72 has its forward end Welded or otherwise fastened to the front end of leaf storage platform 74 for the rear primer, this platform in turn being pivotally connected to the member 27 in the manner described previously. The bracket 76 located beneath the leaf storage platform 74 supports bracket 80 upon which is mounted pivot pin 82. A foot control member 78 is mounted on said pivot pin 82. One side of the foot control member 78 is connected by means of rod 84 (which can be of adjustable length) to a fixed point on the rear end of the front primer platform 42, said fixed point being stationary with relation to the pivoting action of the rear primer seat. Thus, when the rear primer pushes his foot against one side or the other of the foot control member 78 it will cause the rear primer station to pivot through an arc to the right or to the left. The advantages of this arrangement is that the rear primer can shifthimself closer to or away from an adjacent row of tobacco plants so as to facilitate his priming efforts.

There are two side primer stations located behind leaf shields A and B, one located on each side of leaf shield C (behind which are located the previously described front and rear primer stations). Each of these side primer stations is supported by downwardly depending members 90 and 92 (see FIGS. 1 and 6). As is shown best in FIG. 6, member 90 has an upper end that is angled and designed so that it can be moved inwardly and outwardly with respect to the longitudinal axis of the harvester (i.e. by being able to telescope within main frame members The upper end of member 92 is constructed in the same way. The lower ends of members 90 and 92 support between them a leaf storage platform 94, seat 96, seat supporting member 98 and footrest 100.

Each of the side primer stations is arranged so that it can be moved upwardly with respect to the ground as the tobacco harvesting operations proceed. This can be accomplished with vertical supporting members that telescope and whose length can be altered easily and quickly by pins, bolts, or the like.

It should be noted that the two side primer stations are not shown as being mounted so that they can pivot through a horizontal arc in the same way that the rear primer station does. However, the side primer stations could be mounted so as to move in exactly the same way as the rear primer station, if desired.

All of the primer seats can be raised or lowered with respect to the ground by a variety of means. For example, FIG. 3 shows that the rear primer seat 70 can be raised or lowered by means of an adjustable chain supporting means 56, while the front primer seat 44 can be raised or lowered by the use of a plurality of vertical- 1y aligned holes 102 and associated bolts 103.

FIG. 8 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a platform useful with our harvester. In particular, this platform is composed of frame members 74a, 74b, and 740 as well as one vertical side member 74d, one vertical end member 74e, and a flat horizontal bottom member 74 A trackway 75 extends along down the length of the platform bottom 74]. This trackway is designed to accommodate one leg or one edge portion of a bulk rack for tobacco leaves. The advantage of having a fixed location for the bulk rack is that when it is set in place, andthe leaves deposited in it with their butt ends up against side 74d, the fully loaded racks will have a uniform configuration along at least one side, which is of advantage insofar as bulk curing is concerned.

A bulk rack which is particularly useful in connection with our harvester is the HandiPak Rack manufactured by the Harrington Manufacturing Company and which is described in Ser. No. 749,016. Application Ser. No. 749,016 is owned by the same company that owns the present application.

While the construction disclosed is preferred, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto and that changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts may be made, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A tobacco harvester comprising in combination:

(a) a main frame,

(b) a plurality of wheels attached to the lower portion of said main frame and means to drive at least one of said wheels so as to permit movement of the harvester between rows of tobacco leaves,

(c) four primer stations depending downwardly from the upper portion of said main frame,

(d) each of said primer stations comprising a seat for a primer and a platform for the reception of tobacco leaves,

(e) two of said primer stations being centrally located with respect to the main frame and consisting of a front primer station and a rear primer station,

(g) said rear primer station having a front portion and a back portion,

(h) the front portion of said rear primer station being mounted with respect to its supporting means so that the back portion of said rear primer station is free to move through a lateral arc,

(i) foot actuated means in front of the seat of the rear primer station for permitting the primer to move the back end of said rear primer station through a lateral are.

2. A harvester according to claim 1 wherein the back end of said rear primer station is suspended from the main frame by means of a chain.

3. A harvester according to claim 1 wherein said foot actuated means for moving said rear primer station comprises a footrest type of bar which is pivotally mounted in front of the primer, one end of said footrest being connected by linkage means to a fixed point adjacent the rear end of the front primer station.

4. A harvester according to claim 1 wherein said front primer station is provided with foot actuated means for steering one of the wheels of said harvester.

5. A harvester according to claim 1 wherein each platform for the reciption of tobacco leaves is composed of a vertical side member, a vertical end member, a fiat horizontal bottom member, and a trackway extending along the length of the bottom member, said. trackway being adapted to accommodate one portion of a tobacco leaf bulk neck.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,146,896 9/1964 Wilson 280 87.1 X 3,199,687 8/1965 Mish 28032.5 X 3,215,288 11/1965 Long et al. 214 83.1 X 3,217,823 11/1965 Bathes .280-32.5X 3,229,831 1/1966 Long 214-83 1 KENNETH H. BETTS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 28032.5, 87.1 

